San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan looks for room around Portland Trail Blazers' Robin Lopez during first half action of Game 3 in the Western Conference semifinals Saturday May 10, 2014 at the Moda Center in Portland, OR.

Photo: Edward A. Ornelas, San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan looks for room around Portland Trail...

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Tim Duncan is the only player on the Spurs or Trail Blazers left from the 1999 conference finals.

“I haven't seen that look from Timmy in two or three years,” Parker joked. “He must have been feeling good.”

So Parker threw the alley-oop, and Duncan missed, and Gregg Popovich had his own line afterward. “A Duncan lob,” he said, “is an oxymoron.”

But here's the twist to this story. A long-ago point guard, with his own accent, said this is also the way it was 15 years ago. Then, the last time Duncan played Portland in the playoffs, Avery Johnson saw a lob even to a young Duncan as a rare and unnecessary event.

That's Duncan.

The more things change, the more he does not.

The years keep passing, and Duncan keeps passing others. Saturday night, he moved ahead of Karl Malone and became the fifth-highest scorer in NBA playoff history.

As long ago as 1999, however, Duncan was already moving on Malone. Malone was the MVP that season, with Duncan finishing third in the voting.

Many thought Duncan deserved the award then and certainly deserved to finish higher than the one who came in second place, Alonzo Mourning. But at the time, Duncan shrugged.

Malone and Mourning had already been eliminated in the postseason by the time the MVP voting came out. Duncan was close to his first NBA Finals.

“I'd rather be right here right now, I'll tell you that,” Duncan said during the 1999 Western Conference finals against Portland. “I'm very happy with the position that I'm in right now.”

Years later, the same continues. While Malone stars in commercials, posing with cheeseburgers and having some fun with his ring-less life, Duncan has another chance at his fifth title.

But if Duncan hasn't changed, everything around him has. He's the only Spur or Blazer left from 1999, and the Portland franchise reflects how much has happened since. The Blazers are now trying to scheme Duncan with their eighth coach.

Duncan isn't the same athlete he was then, but he plays similarly. Just as he mixed intelligence with skill as a second-year player, he did Saturday night.

An example came early in the fourth quarter, with the Blazers within 12 points. Danny Green drove and lofted a high floater that wasn't close. Duncan angled for the tip and scored.

This is what made the Spurs laugh among themselves in the locker room afterward: Green contended, with a straight face, he had thrown his own lob to Duncan.

Manu Ginobili joined with Parker to try another, and this time Duncan hadn't given the sign. “I wasn't expecting that one,” Duncan said.

Ginobili smiled and shook his head Sunday. “That was a terrible mistake,” he said.

In between these failed attempts, however, Duncan played more minutes than any Spur and scored more points than anyone except for Parker. Given the years, and given how others have moved on, the night again illustrated his extended consistency.

Johnson, watching the series from afar, shakes his head at this. “As time goes on, as guys' physical skills tend to erode, they pick up a gut, and their muscles get tight. He's just the opposite.”

Johnson remembers he rarely threw an alley-oop to Duncan in his time as the point guard. “Tim never needed to play above the rim,” he said, “and doesn't need to play above the rim now.”

So with this ground-based skill set, Johnson said, Duncan ages gracefully. “He continues to lose weight, to become more flexible than he was in the past. His body cooperates with his mind.”

Duncan's mind also doesn't concern itself with anything but the present. Asked if he had one, strong memory from that long-ago conference finals against Portland, he paused.

“Not really,” he said.

He was just playing then, thinking about the next game, nothing more. And here he is, doing the same, as if this 15-year gap could really be 15 minutes.

The sign that little has changed: Duncan has a 3-0 lead on the Blazers, just as he did in 1999, with the chance for another sweep.